


the wishing star

by pana (panaceaa)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, time to get meta on the thieves den
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panaceaa/pseuds/pana
Summary: The other humans call him Joker. The shadows whisper the namesTricksterandWild Cardfrequently enough that the words ingrain themselves into the walls of Mementos itself.Jose knows he’s important. Knows that the road ahead of him is chained by destiny and will not be easy. So, Jose decides to help him with this. Even if only by a small amount.And so, Jose gifts him a wishing star.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 17
Kudos: 215





	the wishing star

Jose doesn’t know much about humans.

That’s the very reason that Jose has been sent here to study them, after all. It is both the center cause and reasoning behind the research that needs to be conducted. Research that requires Jose to be drinking down multitudes of flowers in the palace of the human populace.

At first, it all seems very straightforward. Flowers are easy to come by, and humans cannot possibly be all that complicated. And yet time passes and well...Jose is going to need a _lot_ more flowers.

That’s where the human comes in.

The other humans call him Joker. The shadows whisper the names _Trickster_ and _Wild Card_ frequently enough that the words ingrain themselves into the walls of Mementos itself. And Jose, who is neither human nor shadow, simply calls him _Mister_. Still, Jose knows that _Mister Joker the Trickster and Wild Card_ is far too young for any of his titles. He is still only a boy, far more so then Jose himself will ever be, despite his child-like appearance.

Yet, there’s something even more than the titles themselves which separate this particular human from the rest.

Jose sees how he stands slightly apart from his friends. Notices how he stays quiet as the other humans talk amongst each other. He is their leader, and yet he is distant.

Maybe he already feels the weight of the world bearing down on him. The consequence of being cast into a role that his friends cannot hope to comprehend.

Jose knows he’s important. Knows that the road ahead of him is chained by destiny and will not be easy. So, Jose decides to help him with this. Even if only by a small amount.

And so, Jose gifts him a wishing star.

***

It’s only a short time later when Jose first enters his palace.

It is not a palace by traditional means. No, it is safe here. A place formed by cognition born of dreams and not distortion, brought to life by the light of a star.

Jose knows more than he tells him. Knows that this is a place where the timelines meet, blurring the edge between dream and reality. There are thousands of other universes, infinite possibilities that exist between the correlation of choice and consequence. Time does not exist here, so he is free to spend as much time as he’d like.

And so, that’s exactly what Mister Joker does.

He slowly fills the palace with things from his memories. Photos and art bring color to a place that once seemed so barren. Short moments from his reality are displayed front and center on a movie screen, and replicas of his favorite places and memorable objects are put on display throughout the palace. His friends are few, but their cognitions breathe a certain degree of _life_ to the halls. Their laughter and aimless chatter fill the spaces that music can’t quite reach, and Mister Joker always listens to them with fondness in his expression.

Still, for as much as the boy seems at peace here, surrounded by his friends in a place made of his own dreams and wishes, somehow he still doesn’t seem any less lonely.

***

Slowly, more and more new humans start making appearances.

Some are older looking humans that Jose does not recognize, the others are the faces of Mister Joker’s friends that are always with him in Mementos.

There is one human however, that Jose recognizes in a slightly different way. A boy with light brown hair and eyes a dark maroon.

Jose sees him in the halls of Mementos sometimes. Hair normally covered by a black mask, and eyes that the shadows flee at the sight of. He is softer here. Different than Jose has ever seen him.

Jose does not talk to him, not in Mementos and not here. That boy is not the one Jose has vowed to help. But the brown haired one always travels the halls of Mementos alone, and Jose wonders if the boy knows that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. Wonders if he realizes that Mister Joker has only ever wanted him to stay.

This, Jose knows. Jose knows because it’s so easy to see,

Jose sees how Mister Joker plays cards with the light-brown-haired boy for great lengths of time. Watches how his face lights up when he notices him, and how he hurries over to greet him before anyone else. And Jose sees how he looks at him differently than the others, softer maybe, yet in a way that Jose recognizes as profoundly _sad_. Jose cannot understand why he would spend time with someone that seems to cause him so much pain, but he always spends the most time with him anyway. Every time, without fail.

But Jose also knows that time in the real world always keeps moving. Time is unkind in reality, and the wishing star cannot give Mister Joker what he wants most.

***

Time passes.

Mister Joker and his friends eventually reach the depths of Mementos as his destiny finally comes to a head. He bears it all on his shoulders with the confidence of someone who is worthy of his titles, even if he never asked for them. And still, at night in the world of his dreaming, he visits his thieves den and the hero becomes merely a boy once more.

When the fates decide to turn once again and the _Trickster_ once again finds himself in the middle of it, a new foul-tasting area of Mementos opens up. It is at that point when the boy’s visits to his palace grow a lot less frequent.

Jose knows why.

Jose sees the one with the black mask at his side again. Watches the way that Joker laughs and smiles in a way he never has before. Notices how he no longer looks so alone.

Jose is not very knowledgeable about the emotions of humans, not about the whys or the hows. On those he needs more research. So, Jose challenges Mister Joker and his friends to a fight in Mementos for that reason among others, and it’s in that fight that one very important thing is learned.

The wishing star doesn’t need to light up for them as they perform their synchronized attack. Not in the same way it does for the others.

Their wishes have already become one.

***

It’s not very long after their fight that Jose sees Mister Joker once again in his palace of dreams.

The wishing star is no more, but this place is a part of him now. The human turned hero has lined the walls with art and silly awards, and the replicas and cognitions ripped straight from his memories make the once empty space abundant with life and color. Jose is glad of it. For all that Mister Joker has done for the world, it’s only fair that the fates allow him this.

This visit however, seems different than usual.

This time, he lingers.

Jose watches him as he takes his time staring at the paintings on the walls, notices how he spends a certain length of time with each of his friends, one by one.

The brown-haired boy is the one he visits last.

They play cards at first. And when that grows dull, the Joker pushes the cards aside and the two of them talk.

They talk for a great length of time.

It doesn’t seem like too serious a discussion. Humanity’s hero laughs and smiles at the boy in the same way he did those final days in Mementos. The small degree of sadness is familiar, but there’s something else there that’s new. Something almost...peaceful? Peaceful, yet determined. It’s a strange combination that serves as a reminder that Jose will never really understand humans.

In the end, Mister Joker rises from the table, and in one single motion leans over and kisses the other boy. His hand cups his jaw gently, and it’s soft in a way that Jose would have never expected from the human who made even the strongest shadows tremble. It’s definitely the most intimate thing Jose has ever witnessed, but it’s also impossible to ignore the way it rings with a degree of finality that Jose cannot hope to understand.

When they part, humanity’s hero presses his lips to the forehead of his cognition of the boy who once breathed chaos. Looks at him one last time, and then he’s gone. Waking from the land of dreams to return to his own reality.

Jose thinks maybe he’ll ask Mister Joker about what all that meant the next time he comes back. Keeps wondering about the question for a very long time.

But he never comes back again.

**Author's Note:**

> I admit this was entirely self-indulgent. I mighttt have a weakness for flowery language. 
> 
> The ending is purposefully very ambiguous and open to interpretation. There's definitely some hints in here as to what I intended with it, but I also feel like writing the answers in the endnotes kind of ruins the “aesthetic” of a piece like this. 
> 
> I'd love to hear what you think though! ❤️
> 
> ~You can find me on Twitter @pana_pancake


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